anymany

Smart list formatter built on native Intl.
Turn arrays into "banana, apple, and cherry", "a, b или c", or "a、b、c" — sorted right, joined right.

▸ live demo

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One function. Smart defaults. Any locale. ~0.5kb gzip. Zero dependencies.

Intl is powerful. anymany makes it usable.

Built for tags, participants, file lists, permissions, and search filters — anywhere array.join(", ") should read like a person wrote it. No locale files. No plugins. No config.

import { anymany } from "anymany";

anymany(["banana", "apple", "cherry"]);
// "banana, apple, and cherry"

anymany(["S", "M", "L"], { type: "disjunction" });
// "S, M, or L"

anymany(["cherry", "apple", "Banana"], { sort: true });
// "apple, Banana, and cherry"

anymany(["x", "y", "z", "a", "b", "c", "d"], { max: 3 });
// "x, y, z, and +4"

---

install

npm install anymany

---

usage

anymany(items);
anymany(items, options);

items is an array of strings. Non-string items are coerced via String(). An empty array returns ""; a single item is returned as-is.

anymany(["read", "write"]);          // "read and write"
anymany(["read"]);                   // "read"
anymany([]);                         // ""

---

join

Default is "conjunction" (and) in "long" style. Both map straight to Intl.ListFormat.

anymany(["a", "b", "c"]);                        // "a, b, and c"
anymany(["a", "b", "c"], { style: "short" });    // "a, b, & c"
anymany(["a", "b", "c"], { style: "narrow" });   // "a, b, c"

disjunction

type: "disjunction" joins with "or"; type: "unit" is a plain list with no joiner word.

anymany(["S", "M", "L"], { type: "disjunction" });  // "S, M, or L"
anymany(["4 kg", "2 m"], { type: "unit" });         // "4 kg, 2 m"

sort

sort runs the items through Intl.Collator before joining — real language-aware collation, not code-point order. The input array is never mutated.

anymany(["cherry", "apple", "Banana"], { sort: true });
// "apple, Banana, and cherry"   ← plain .sort() would put "Banana" first

numeric sort

sort: "numeric" compares embedded numbers by value, so 2 comes before 10. Pass any Intl.CollatorOptions object for full control.

anymany(["file10", "file2"], { sort: "numeric" });
// "file2 and file10"

anymany(["a", "A"], { sort: { caseFirst: "upper" } });
// "A and a"

max + overflow

max caps the visible items (after sorting); the rest collapse into a trailing "+N" counter. Digits come from Intl.NumberFormat, so they localize — no words, locale-safe.

anymany(["x", "y", "z", "a", "b", "c", "d"], { max: 3 });
// "x, y, z, and +4"

anymany(["x", "y", "z", "a", "b"], { max: 3, overflow: (n) => `${n} more` });
// "x, y, z, and 2 more"

The overflow item is just another list element, so the default type places an "and" before it: "x, y, z, and +4". That is intentional — no hidden joiner magic. If you prefer a plain comma list, combine max with type: "unit".

parts

anymanyParts() accepts the same arguments as anymany() and returns the output as { type, value } parts — style the items apart from the separators, or rebuild the string your own way.

import { anymanyParts } from "anymany";

anymanyParts(["a", "b"]);
// [
//   { type: "element", value: "a" },
//   { type: "literal", value: " and " },
//   { type: "element", value: "b" },
// ]

// React: bold the items
anymanyParts(tags).map((p, i) =>
  p.type === "element" ? <b key={i}>{p.value}</b> : p.value,
);

locales

Everything above works the same in any locale — joiner words, collation, and overflow digits all come from Intl. Pass any valid BCP 47 tag, including regional variants like en-GB, zh-TW, pt-BR; fallback arrays also work.

anymany(["a", "b", "c"], { locale: "ru" });                       // "a, b и c"
anymany(["a", "b", "c"], { locale: "de" });                       // "a, b und c"
anymany(["a", "b", "c"], { locale: "ja" });                       // "a、b、c"
anymany(["a", "b", "c"], { type: "disjunction", locale: "ru" });  // "a, b или c"

anymany(["Öl", "Zebra", "Apfel"], { sort: true, locale: "de" });
// "Apfel, Öl und Zebra"   ← Ö sorts after A, not after Z

anymany(["файл10", "файл2"], { sort: "numeric", locale: "ru" });
// "файл2 и файл10"

anymany(["a", "b", "c", "d", "e", "f", "g"], { max: 3, locale: "ar-EG" });
// "a وb وc و+٤"           ← localized overflow digits

anymany(["a", "b"], { locale: ["sr-Latn-RS", "en"] });

When omitted, native Intl uses the runtime locale.

---

options

Option	Type	Default
locale	string | string[]	runtime locale
type	"conjunction" | "disjunction" | "unit"	"conjunction"
style	"long" | "short" | "narrow"	"long"
sort	boolean | "numeric" | Intl.CollatorOptions	no sorting
max	number (positive integer)	no limit
overflow	(hidden: number) => string	`+${N}`

max throws a RangeError when it is zero, negative, or fractional.

---

family

anymany is part of a family — same author, same DNA: one function, smart defaults, any Intl locale, ~1kb gzip, zero dependencies, SSR-safe, dual ESM+CJS.

• anywhen — humanizes dates: "yesterday, 2:35 PM", "через 3 часа"
• anyamount — humanizes amounts and units
• anymany — humanizes arrays of strings (this package)

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FAQ

Why no pluralization ("1 file" / "2 files")? By design. Intl ships no word data, and anymany ships zero language dictionaries — that is what keeps it lightweight and correct in every locale. The overflow counter is "+N" (localized digits) instead of "and N more" for the same reason. If a feature would require per-language words, it is out of scope.

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stability

anymany follows semver. Since 1.0.0 the public API — anymany, anymanyParts, AnymanyOptions, and the exported types — only changes shape in a major release. New options arrive in minors; exact formatted strings come from Intl and may vary between ICU versions, so never assert on them across environments.

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compatibility

Node.js 18+ · Chrome 72+ · Firefox 78+ · Safari 14.1+ · Edge Runtime · Cloudflare Workers · Deno

CI runs the full suite on Node 20, 22, and 24. Older runtimes down to Node 18 work but are not tested on every release.